Top 10 for Friday: 10 best things seen on a tour of the USS Somerset

Top 10 for Friday: The 10 best things seen on a tour of the USS Somerset

1. Pennsylvania and exclusively the Philadelphia riverfront has the honor and privilege of a very special guest. The USS Somerset will be commissioned on March 1 in a private ceremony. See more photos of the Somerset in the blog.

The Somerset was christened on July 28, 2012. On Oct. 18, 2013, it was delivered to the Navy and her crew. Her home port will be in San Diego, Calif., the same intended destination state of Flight 93. That flight was scheduled to arrive in San Fransisco on Sept. 11, 2001. Pennsylvania was chosen as the site of the commission to immortalize those who lost their lives in Somerset, Pa., that day and this naval ship has been named in their honor.

2. It will serve as a U.S. Marine transport for personnel and equipment. It will be employed in a variety of operations including conventional, expeditionary, special operations, defense support to civil authorities and foreign humanitarian and disaster relief missions. Capable of carrying 1,200 people including crew, approximately 22 tons of steel from a drag line “power shovel” used near the Somerset crash site was used for the bow of the USS Somerset.

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3. Three ships, New York LPD 21, Arlington LPD 24 and Somerset LPD 25 are named in honor of the victims and heroes of 9/11, all have been built by Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding. According to a Jan. 19, 2011, press release, on Jan. 15, 2011, 22 members of the Families of Flight 93 taking a tour of the facilities in Avondale, La., signed the hull of the LPD 25 with their name and the names of their family members. The ship sits 22 feet in the water. The 25 on the side stands for LPD25. There is no doubt, this is the room with the view and prominent staff will sit here but the crew below in navigation is just as vital as are every man and woman on board.

4. The Somerset’s crew consists of 380 commissioned sailors, 31 officers and 349 enlisted, 69 females and 311 males. According to the brochure handed out, Somerset’s crew is the finest this nation can provide. After taking the tour on Wednesday offered to the public, they got my vote. I wish I had gotten the names of the sailors that gave us such an excellent tour but I can only describe them with pride. Our main guy was a native of Southern California and I believe has been with the ship since it was in New Orleans. He is excited to get back to his roots and to see his family once the ship docks at its next destination in San Diego. He was knowledgeable, professional and had an engaging humor.

5. Our second guide sinks the ship. Typically this is not a job description you would think would hold high value on a Naval ship but he has an important job. He can drop the back end of the ship 10 feet to enable equipment to be loaded in and out of the craft. This happens in the hull of the ship. The flight deck, which is an acre in size is above this area. I have them pictured in reverse order.

6. According to our tour guide, not only does rank guarantee better pay it also gives you better accommodations. We did pass by the captain’s quarters but were not given a glimpse inside. The majority of enlisted men are in very close quarters. Here you see one side of a six-person area. It has a new L-shaped design. A sailor has the luxury of additional head room and can sit up and read at night without crouching down or banging their head on the bunk above. Underneath the bunk is a storage area for personal belongings. There is not a lot of room for accessories and bling.

7. Speaking of accessories, these containers hold a life raft and when deployed can carry 50 sailors and or Marines and also enough food for 25 days. I found that amazing and need to rethink what and how I repack for my next outing. 50 people, 25 days just incredible.

8. Some of the equipment that can be transported along with Marine personnel on board includes an Assault Amphibious Vehicle Personnel Variant, Humvee and Landing Craft Air Cushion and Utility. I must admit I had an eerie feeling when observing these vehicles. One of the little girls in our group turned to her father and asked, ‘Did anyone die in here?’ This is a brand new ship but the equipment was not, and that was a harsh reality. Someone could have or could die as they are put in harm’s way.

9. The medical facilities are astounding and equipped with most of the machinery and tools found in our hospitals. There is permanent physician and dentist on staff at all times and on special occasions will carry a larger staff. The ship’s physician spoke to us from the triage area next to one of the operating rooms. He explained that the triage area is where most of the injuries would be evaluated. There it would determined who would be treated first, who can wait and those that will not make it or who may have already died. There is a storage location for the deceased as well as a decontamination area if a soldier was exposed to a hazardous chemical. This is operating room 2.

10. Traces of what this ship stands for can be found throughout the boat. The town of Somerset donated street signs that you come across on the multi levels and twists and turns within the boats corridors.

The back of the brochure you are given at the beginning of the tour lists the names in alphabetical order of the

HEROES OF UNITED AIRLINE FLIGHT 93

CHRISTIAN ADAMS

LORRAINE G. BAY

TODD M. BEAMER

ALAN ANTHONY BEAVEN

MARK BINGHAM

DEORA FRANCES BODLEY

SANDY WAUGH BRADSHAW

MARION R. BRITTON

THOMAS E. BURNETT, JR.

WILLIAM JOSEPH CASHMAN

GEORGINE ROSS CORRIGAN

PATRICIA CUSHING

JASON M. DAHL

JOSEPH DELUCA

PATRICK JOSEPH DRISCOLL

EDWARD PORTER FELT

JANE C. FOLGER

COLLEEN L. FRASER

ANDREW (SONNY) GARCIA

JEREMY LOGAN GLICK

KRISTIN WHITE GOULD

LAUREN C. GRANDCOLAS and Unborn Child

WANDA ANITA GREEN

DONALD FREEMAN GREENE

LINDA GRONLUND

RICHARD J. GUADAGNO

LEROY HOMER

TOSHIYA KUGE

CEECEE ROSS LYLES

HILDA MARCIN

WALESKA MARTINEZ

NICOLE CAROL MILLER

LOUIS J. NACKE, II

DONALD ARTHUR PETERSON

JEAN HOADLEY PETERSON

MARK DAVID ROTHENBERG

CHRISTINE ANN SNYDER

JOHN TALIGNANI

HONOR ELIZABETH WAINIO

DEBORAH JACOBS WELSH

I only wish the entire crew of the U.S.S. Somerset could be listed.

I do not personally know anyone currently serving in the military but that doesn’t stop me from acknowledging and thanking all servicemen and women who serve and protect us.

They are also my heroes, as are their families.

I believe tours will be available on March 1 and 2 after the private commissioning ceremony. You will need Photo ID to pass through security and don’t forget to thank these men and women for their service to our country and for your protection.

The USS Somerset is on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Google it, there is lots of good stuff out there about it. It is a special opportunity to go down there at Penn’s Landing and be welcomed aboard. Go check it out if you can. It is pretty amazing. If nothing else you will experience the humbleness of these people who put themselves in the line of danger every day for us. The average age of the crew is 28. How many of us have children that age and think, they are just kids? Fact is, they are all more adult than many of us will ever be and are to be admired.

From a quilt bearing the names of the 40 passengers and crew to the many street signs from southwestern Pennsylvania’s Somerset County, the ship is a floating tribute to those who stormed the cockpit of the hijacked airliner on Sept. 11, 2011, thwarting an attack on Washington, D.C. The plane crashed in a field, killing all aboard.

“Had it not been for their heroic actions, the terrorists would have reached their intended targets, and for sure, countless more lives would’ve been lost and perhaps even changed the outcome of history as we know it,” said Capt. Thomas L. Dearborn, the ship’s commanding officer.

The Somerset will be placed into service on Saturday during a commissioning ceremony in Philadelphia, where it’s been docked for nearly a week. The Navy gave a tour of the ship on Thursday.

Sailors who were teens and younger during the 2001 terror attack said it’s a great honor to serve aboard the diesel-powered, 684-foot Somerset, an amphibious transport dock designed to carry troops and equipment and launch helicopters, tilt-rotor aircraft and assault watercraft.

Petty Officer Patricia Steele, 27, of Oak Harbor, Wash., was in her ninth-grade science class when jetliners slammed into the World Trade Center. She remembers watching the towers fall on TV.

Steele said she’s honored to serve on the Somerset because the Flight 93 passengers were “the first crew that fought back against terrorism ... They fought back to preserve and protect innocent lives.”

Sailors were getting the Somerset ready Thursday in advance of the commissioning ceremony, swabbing an already spotless upper deck in front of the bridge as a bitter wind howled. The Navy showed off the Somerset’s capabilities, having an Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and a SuperCobra attack helicopter land on the flight deck in the shadow of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.

Saturday’s ceremony will feature the ship’s sponsor giving the traditional order to “man our ship and bring her to life!” The Somerset will then sail to San Diego, its home port.

It’s the third ship to be named in honor of 9/11 victims and first responders. The others are the USS New York and USS Arlington.

Among other references to Flight 93, a plaque on the Somerset says, “The sailors and Marines of this warship will never forget”; the mess is called “Heroes Hall”; a patch sewn into a tablecloth bears the legend “Let’s roll,” the famous rallying cry of Flight 93 passenger Todd Beamer.

D. Hamilton Peterson, of Bethesda, Md., the son of Donald A. Peterson and Jean Peterson, who died aboard Flight 93, plans to attend the commissioning ceremony with his two sons.

The Somerset “represents that ethos of not lying down, of fighting back,” said Peterson, the former chairman of the Families of Flight 93 group.

The vessel was christened in July 2012 at the Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard in Avondale, a New Orleans suburb.